This photo was taken at a friend's wedding in April 2008. This Right Hand Drive (RHD)
Ponton came from the factory with maroon paint. The previous owner had it re-painted
with reference to the factory two-tone option. The original Becker radio is not working
at present. I have only owned the car for six months. I am the fourth owner since new.
This car would have been a very brave and expensive purchase in the UK in 1955 as
the war with Germany had ended only 10 years earlier. There was a lot of negativity
towards German products back then. This attitude no longer prevails today, thank
goodness!

Photo submitted: May 1, 2008

Type W180 220a sedan

Photo submitted: July 27, 2014

1955 Type W180 220a sedan

owner: Carlsson Ng / Toronto, Canada

The Type 220a sedans can be distinguished from the
220S by the lack of a chrome accent strip on the front fenders. The
rear fenders of the 220a had the same accent strip as the 220S models.
Above: Carlsson's 1955 Type 220a before restoration.

I am from Augsburg, Bavaria and send you kind regards and congratulations for your excellent
mbzponton website. Attached is a photo of my 1955 Mercedes-Benz Type 220a Ponton with full winter trim perhaps being of interest
to other friends of our
world-wide Ponton community. The car is protected against salt corrosion with Mike Sanders grease and oil so that driving on snowy roads is not too damaging to the car. Otherwise, the
nearly four month winter season is not too long for the car and the driver.

This car was my grandfather's since new. It has more than
1,000,000 km on the clock and I restored it completely ten years ago.
I love it because I traveled in it a lot of times when I was a child.

Photo submitted: January 24, 2005

Type W180 220a sedan

Loading a Mercedes-Benz Type W180 220a Ponton sedan in to
a cargo plane

Regarding the plane, Dennis Schauber writes, "Judging from the shape of the vertical stabilizer and
the American registration, I'd say the it was a Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando. It's a fairly large
twin-engine cargo plane that the U.S. flew over "The Hump" (eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains)
in WWII. A lot of them went on to cargo outfits after the war."

Photo submitted: February 21, 2010

1955 Type W180 220a sedan with Webasto sliding sunroof

former owner: Marwan Nusair / Cincinnati,
Ohio USA

In 2005 Marwan wrote, "From the nostalgia archives, here is a picture of me with
the 220a back in the late 1960s. From the appearance of everything
I am homing in on 1968 or 1969. Today, car and driver are still together,
but with some differences: my hair has not been black in some time, and
it is a lot shorter now by choice, there are about 40 extra lbs of me,
and the car is in better shape now than it was then."

Marwan Nusair with his Type 220a Ponton sedan in 2007

Photos submitted: November 27, 2005 and
sometime in 2007

"My grandfather had a
friend of his buy the car during a long visit to Germany in 1955, and then
drove it to Jordan with the oval German plate on it. I still remember that
since it was so odd to see an oval plate. He gave the car to me when I graduated
from high school in 1965."

The chrome trim on the rear fenders is normal for a Type 220a.
The front fenders of the 220a sedans should
not normally include chrome trim. Also note
that the chrome trim for the rear fenders and doors of a Type 220a is not interchangeable
with the chrome trim for the rear fenders and doors of the Type 220S.
Comparison photos pending
(31-dec-2013).

Igor Huygen's 1956 Type W180 220a sedan

The 1953 Esso gas station is near the old Louwman Museum in Raamsdonkveer,
Netherlands.

A friend whose relative lives in Iran just sent me this
photo. I recall during my childhood in Iran in the late 1950s to early
1960s this car being in service. Every few years they were updated with
newer Mercedes-Benz models. Until 1978, all public transportation (bus,
ambulance, police, hearse) were Mercedes-Benz – with the exception of
double-decker buses, which were from Leyland in England. The writing on the
front door indicates it belonged to the police department (DMV) as they are an entity under the city police
department.

Griff writes, "I bought the 220S in 1975 from its original
owner – a German Mercedes-Benz mechanic who purchased it factory-new
in Stuttgart, and brought it to California in 1965. It has been reliable
transportation for me for over 25 years."

When visiting the Ponton Photo Gallery, I scrolled through the list of owners and realized I
had not done my part to be included! I purchased this 220S in 1984 in Winterthur, Switzerland.
The former owner bought it second-hand from a dealer in Winterthur in 1962. The car is fully
restored, and had an electronic fuel pump and air conditioning (A/C) installed. For the
A/C, I switched from the original generator to an alternator.

We own two classic Mercedes-Benz
vehicles, and have lived in Orlando, Florida (fantasy land) for the last 20
years. My wife has owned a 1956 Type 220S Ponton sedan since our college days, and I own a
1966 Type 230 Fintail sedan. The cars have been with us for more than 20
years, and we keep them in the best possible condition. After our daughter used the 220S
in college, it was restored – by the M-B book.

My 1966 Type W110 230 Fintail seems like it has been with me forever. It's
in original condition, and has never disappointed. We drive both cars to an
amusement park and shopping/dining complex called Old Town (Kissimmee,
Florida) where there is a classic automobile parade every Saturday. We plan
to hand the cars down to our children, and hope they are then passed down
to their kids. This website is a great place to read about Pontons, and see
all the fine examples from around the world. We believe we are part
of this history.

The video of Paul McCartney's 2013 song "Appreciate" features a
Mercedes-Benz Type 220S Ponton sedanPhoto and video uploaded: June 13, 2014

1957 Type W180 220S sedan

owner: Andres Porta / northern Spain

Hello,

I bought my 1957 220S Ponton sedan in Madrid, Spain in 1989. It has the original period plate number, and I
restored the body in the 1990s, but did not complete the interior. I am considering transforming the car
into a rally car for regular local events. The idea is to follow the Monte Carlo rally cars of 1955 and 1956,
but I had not discovered any reference photos until recently.

I just discovered your website, and think it's great. It
contains lots of useful
information, which I have been looking for.
I am in Auckland, New Zealand and this is my 1957 Type 220S with 238,000 miles.

Mark is a photographer with a studio in downtown
Saranac Lake. This photo features Whiteface Mountain
in the background. On November 25, 2013 he wrote, "I hit a deer with it a few
years ago and have been slowly working on getting it back on the road. So, it
is sitting in my garage with a new hood and fender but still in primer. I've
got the new radiator in the car but I need to finish up the mechanicals and
get it running again. Life just gets in the way and so progress has been
slow."

This 1957 Type 220S sedan (metallic gray, with red interior) underwent its first
restoration in 1986 when it was purchased from a gentleman in
Washington. The restoration was about a 7 on a 1-10 scale. I purchased the car in
the spring of 2004 seeing that it was rusted out in an empty gravel driveway surrounded
by trees.

Since then, it spent 1.5 years having other restoration work completed. This
car is beautiful, and must be seen to be appreciated! I upgraded the wheel size
by two inches.
These are 15", and the normal 220S wheel size is 13."

This is my 1958 220S Ponton sedan. It has 27,000 km and has been
stored in a garage for 27 years. I intend to restore her. In Italy, the car sold
new for 3,350,000 lire when most people were making 40,000 lire a month. In other
words, it was worth seven year's wages to the average Italian worker in 1958.
Today, the Mercedes-Benz Ponton is very rare in Italy. I have been visiting the
mbzponton.org site for four years, and it is fantastic!

This 220S Ponton has been restored and runs well. It is a pleasant driving experience.
I also have another 220S Ponton pending restoration. I find the Mercedes-Benz Ponton
website to be very useful. For additional information you can send me an e-mail.

The car is in Sydney, Australia, although I currently
work in Turkey. This 1958 Type 220S has a Hydrak automatic clutch. I
am the second owner. The first owner (now deceased) drove the car from
new until 2002. It has done 101,000 miles and is in fairly original condition.
I believe it was repainted at some time — in the original
DB 157G (grey beige). The interior is original red leather, with no rips
or any major marks. It was supplied with all the original books, and sales
brochures.

1958 Mercedes-Benz Type 220S Ponton rallye sedan. In
this photo, the 220S is participating in the "Albis Bergrennen" (hill climb)
near Zürich, Switzerland, which was held on July 19-20, 2003. It is an old
traditional race, revived again in 2003 after a long break. On
a hill climb, you try to drive up a hill as fast as possible. Typically,
you have a few trial runs, and then a few race runs. The best two of your
race runs count. Modifications: The engine is a Type 130.920 from a W108
280S, front disk brakes, roll cage, race seats and harness. Planned
modifications are: fuel cell, suspension upgrades, limited slip differential.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Keith Barnwell and I live in
Leavenworth, Kansas 66048. Recently, I purchased a 1959 Mercedes-Benz Type 220S
Ponton sedan from El Paso, Texas.
In 1968 I had a Mercedes-Benz Ponton like the one I just bought.
Both had the Hydrak automatic
clutch. In 1968, the National Guard unit I was in
got activated to serve in Vietnam. My salary before was good.
However, when the Guard unit was activated, I quickly found out that
Privates cannot afford a Mercedes-Benz, so I had to sell the best
car I ever had.

Keith's new 1959 Type 220S Ponton sedan

I am now 62 years of age, and have a new toy. The new 1959
220S is not rusted since it was from El Paso. The body and under-side are
excellent, and the engine runs. However, it needs some cleaning.
The red leather interior needs to be replaced. The paint is fair,
but I plan to give it a good paint job. The hubcaps are fair, but
I would like to purchase a set that rates good to excellent.

Imported to Australia in 1959 and purchased by a Gippsland
farmer who drove it for ten years before selling it about 1969.
The new owner drove it for less than a year before storing it in
his shed where it remained for the next twenty five years. A mechanic, Neal
Batten from the Sale Mercedes-Benz dealership then acquired the
car and completed a three year restoration, selling it in 1997 to
Mike Symmons, a Mercedes-Benz Club (Victoria) member. I purchased
the car in early 2007 after it had won its class in the Mercedes-Benz
Club (ACT) Concours d'Elegance in 2006. I have completed many
rallies in the past two years completing 10,000 very reliable and
enjoyable miles in that time. Current odometer reading is 84,000
miles.

The attached photos are of my late uncle Woolf Israelsohn's
1959 Mercedes-Benz Type 220S Ponton sedan (assembled in South Africa) with Hydrak automatic
clutch. He purchased
the car in Cape Town in 1959, and traded it in on a 1968 Mercedes-Benz W108 250S.
Pity he did not keep the Ponton! He owned a further two Mercedes-Benz
vehicles — a 1973 280S, and finally, a 1984 380SEC, which he owned up until his
death in 1995 at the age of 84 years!

This is a photo of myself with my 1959 Type 220S Ponton sedan,
and my wife, in February 1974 in the small city of Paree, East Java in
Indonesia. We were still young then, and had just gotten married in December
1973.

The second photo shows us in November 2009 in Lakeland,
Florida. Throughout the years we remained passionate about owning the this
style of Mercedes-Benz. When I go back to Indonesia today, I still drive the
black 220S shown in the 1974 photo.

The preparations and modifications that were made to this
220S were covered in three feature articles of the Mercedes-Benz Club
of America's bimonthly magazine, The Star. The issues were:
March-April 2000 / July-August 2000 / September-October 2000. As of
November 2003, the car is in the Western Reserve Museum in Cleveland,
Ohio.

I am the second owner of this Mercedes-Benz Type 220S Ponton sedan, having
purchased it in 1973 from the original owner who imported it from Germany
to Orange County, California. Everything except the restored upholstery
remains original, including the working Becker radio. For more than a decade
this car served as my primary transportation working in the Eastern Sierra
mountains and desert. It now resides more peaceably in Oakland, California
with more than 160,000 miles, more than half of which was accumulated in my
tenure.

Awesome page and great effort! I have been following your web page for
the past four or five years. I used to live in Caracas, Venezuela and remember sending
you a photo of my 220S cabriolet. I am now living in Florida, and brought my Ponton with me.

At the Frankfurt Airport, a Mercedes-Benz Type 220S Ponton
cabriolet (weighing over 1,360 kg [3,000 lbs.]) is slowly raised to the doors of a Pan
American World Airways Clipper, prior to its 18-hour trans-Atlantic crossing
to New York. Notice the two-tone paint job.

Dr. Wernher von Braun with his Type 220S Ponton coupé (circa
1960) in Huntsville, Alabama. Note the bumperette accumulated a couple of
creases. Besides being a famous rocket engineer, Wernher von Braun was also the
director of Daimler-Benz of North America. Mercedes-Benz of North America (MBNA)
gave or loaned him several high-end Mercedes-Benz models during his career in the USA.

English speakers routinely mispronounce Wernher von Braun's
name. In German, it sounds something like: "Vairn-er fon Brown" (with a rolled "r"). He
accepted the Anglicized pronunciation of his first name (which is an old-fashioned spelling
of Werner) and of the von that indicated he was from the nobility, but never accepted
"Brawn." Braun means, and is pronounced "Brown"
(Neufeld *).